DESCRIPTION: (Taken from the applicant's) This program provides interdisciplinary training in muscle biology for pre- and postdoctoral students. The program emphasizes the functional properties of skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle. The 18 primary faculty members are from 4 departments at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, and the 2 Baltimore units of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, with affiliates from the College of Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County. Reflecting this diversity of faculty backgrounds, the training opportunities cover a wide range and include: the molecular biological determinants of muscle cytoskeleton and matrix, biophysical and physiological analysis of the function of individual muscle cells, biomechanical properties of whole muscles and muscular organs, and the relationship of each of these approaches to muscle disease. The faculty work in the areas of calcium control of muscle function and muscle cytoskeletal and matrix. The students will receive training in these and a variety of related areas, including molecular and functional control of muscle gene expression, with emphasis on the use of several complementary techniques to approach each question under investigation. The major aspects of the didactic training consists of two interdisciplinary courses on muscle already offered by program faculty. They propose 4 predoctoral and 5 postdoctoral trainees for the first and second renewal year of the program, and then a steady state of 5 pre- and 6 postdoctoral trainees in the third through fifth years. Entering predoctoral trainees will have a background in biology, chemistry and/or physics, excellent GRE scores, research experience and strong letters of recommendation. Incoming postdoctoral trainees will have completed a solid Ph.D. thesis and have strong letters of recommendation. The application has significant and substantial scientific merit. Support is recommended for the five years, with a reduction in the budget, with a rating of outstanding.